


Angles of Influence

by half_sleeping



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-20
Updated: 2012-05-20
Packaged: 2017-11-05 17:05:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/408884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/half_sleeping/pseuds/half_sleeping
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You get a love triangle! YOU get a love triangle. Everyone has a love triangle, is what I am saying here.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Angles of Influence

i.  _The one who won_

“First of all,” Pema said. “Relationships are not competitions. That’s first. Winning someone doesn’t mean you get to keep their heart.” She stirred the pot. “And second, Lin and I were never…rivals. We didn’t fight over Tenzin.  I just- wanted to let him know how I felt. That I wanted him. And I _did_ want him,” she added. “All of him. All the little things and the big things. I wanted to have his children and be there for him every day. I wanted his serious faces and his smiles. The way that I saw it…I could have told him, and lived with whether or not he rejected me, or I could have never said anything, and regretted it. Believe me, I was prepared to shut myself up in my room and cry for weeks if he said no…but he said he wanted to think about it. And the rest was history.

“Well…I _did_ pick my moment. But you wouldn’t believe how…unhappy he was back then. It was right after Korra was found, so Katara had left to train her. He missed his family, I think. And he was so determined about being the last airbending master, and ruling Republic City…and I really do think that he’s happier now that he would have been if he’d stayed with her. But the point is that he was the one who decided that too. I couldn’t have forced him to return my feelings. There,” she said. “Taste that. Isn’t it good? I hope I answered your question.”

 

ii. _What she lost_

“Well, don’t you have nerve,” said Lin. “No, I’m not still hung on ‘losing’ him. I _am_ still ‘hung up’ on the fact that after we broke up, we stopped talking entirely. We were friends before we were together. We were- well, we were best friends. And then suddenly it was like I didn’t exist anymore, as though all that history meant nothing to him. I got over no longer being lovers with him pretty fast- in fact, we weren’t really working at it, towards the end- but I can’t believe it took him three children and a threat against the city to even try and be friends again. We used to be a team, and a damn good one. He was… well, he was part of my family, and I was part of theirs. We got used to that. It was familiar. We were familiar. It was easy to be together. Too easy. We forgot that love takes work to keep going.

“Pema’s welcome to being the mother of the Airbending race. I’m proud of what I do. What I’ve done. And yes, I did catch that whole little exchange with the Avatar, so take it from me that you do not want to get into the middle of that, because it _hurt like hell_. Now go away, never tell anyone I told you this and _stop bothering me_.”

 

iii. _Prize-fighting_

Tenzin blustered. “That- that’s not what- well, I don’t know what they told you but it certainly….was…complicated. At the time. And it’s not as though there was some kind of _torrid_ \- yes, Pema and I got together…suddenly…but- we really did grow apart, Lin and me. Lin and I. We’d been on and off together our whole lives, and when Korra was….discovered, and mother left Air Temple Island, we were- the only ones left. We were the only ones who stayed here, and that- that  led to us holding onto something long after it should have clear that we weren’t as- as invested in it as we should have been. Lin will always be my friend, and part of my family. She didn’t stop being that just because- I thought that she would want to be left alone, and we were always so busy, and it just got away from me.

“It shouldn’t have, honestly. I love Pema dearly, but Lin has never stopped being my friend. I ran away from confronting her over our relationship, and I ran away from re-establishing our friendship because I was afraid- well, afraid that she _wouldn’t_ want to be friends anymore. I shouldn’t have. But I’m very happy with the way my life has turned out. Pema is…my partner. And I would have regretted it- seriously regretted it- if Lin and I had never made up. You have to be able to live with your decision and face up to your consequences. Not that you- well, it’s never too early to start thinking seriously about your life choices. It never is.”

 

0: _Faint heart never won fair maiden_

“What did you want to ask Tenzin, anyway?” said Korra to Asami, “And what do you mean, ‘Mako is just going to have to understand?’”


End file.
